Al-asrah – Family
by Mini Goat
Summary: Daniel pumps Jack for information on his last mission but some things are so classified even Daniel doesn't have clearance


**_AN:_**_ Gift fic for __**MoparGirl1**__ about Daniel for reading the first 10 chapters of Survivor when I got stuck during a migraine. Bit of a follow up for __**Matchmaker**__ and __**Something Blue**__. Bit of silly plotless fluff honestly. Just an excuse to have Daniel and Jack interact in their usual way._

**Al-asrah – Family**

"So explain to me how you found out your Mac's distant cousin." Daniel asked Jack. They were sitting in O'Malley's Bar and Grill drinking a beer.

"Can't."

"Well, why not?"

"It's…" he gestured vaguely with his hands. "Classified."

"How is finding out how he's your cousin classified?"

"It just is, ok." Jack said exasperated.

"Why?"

"Something about some paradox crap I wasn't paying attention to." Jack admitted. He wasn't about to tell Daniel the real reason or what Merlin had told them all about _not_ telling Daniel anything specifically.

"Why would there be a paradox?"

"I told you I don't know!" Jack barked to hide the fact that he wasn't telling the truth.

"Well, can't you tell me anything about it?"

"No?"

"Why?"

"Sam threatened me." Jack mumbled.

Daniel laughed. "You're afraid of Sam?"

"She knows all my passwords and where I live Daniel."

"So change them and try locking your doors?" He suggested patiently.

"It's Carter, Daniel. She can pick locks and hack my computer faster than I can type in my password."

Daniel snorted and laughed. "Coward." He told the older man.

"Yup." Jack agreed affably.

"So what did she threaten to do to you?"

"It's what she threatened not to do."

"Oh." Daniel thought for a moment. "Oh! Seriously Jack? Jeeze. I knew you had a thing for each other but I didn't know you were doing anything about it."

"We aren't." Jack lied.

"But you just said…"

"Making out when we're tipsy isn't technically doing anything about it." Which was true. Just because they were also doing other stuff when not tipsy was irrelevant.

"So is there anything you can tell me like, I don't know, where were you for nearly four weeks anyway?"

"England, mostly. Ireland for a little bit."

"What for?"

"Mostly some diplomatic stuff. That kind of thing." He hedged. "Had to attend some formal dinners and escort some kid to Ireland for a meet up."

"Was it SGC related? That doesn't seem like our usual gig and why take Teal'c? How did you even hide his forehead?"

Jack chuckled. "We put him in a turban and told everyone he was Sikh."

"That's kind of racist Jack." Daniel admonished him.

"Well, it was the only thing we could come up with that they wouldn't make him take his hat off inside." He said with a shrug.

Daniel shook his head.

"Don't worry, there weren't any actual Sikhs there so none of them noticed." Jack hadn't thought about that aspect of the situation but they hadn't had many options.

"Jack."

"Daniel."

"Jack…"

"Daniel." Jack said sharply. What was done was done. Sometimes you just had to make a decision and live with it.

"So how is he related?"

"Well, apparently some distant ancestor of mine married the sister of one of his ancestors."

"That's pretty weird."

"You're telling me." Jack agreed.

"I bet he's pretty happy to have some family that he knows about though. Last I know, Mac only had his son left."

"Yah, nice kid. Didn't talk to him much though honestly. Apparently he's a photojournalist."

"Being artistic must run in the family." Daniel said to him but Jack shook his head.

"Probably not that far back, his mom was a photojournalist too. They met when they were really young and both had too much wanderlust." Jack frowned thoughtfully.

"Your worried that's what will happen to you and Sam, aren't you?" Daniel asked him bluntly.

"What?" Jack straightened. "No." But it was clearly a lie and they both knew it.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it Jack."

"Not that I am or that I have anything to worry about, why do you say that?" Jack asked him in false disinterest.

"You guys seem to be wandering in exactly the same direction."

"Pure coincidence, Danny boy."

"Possibly, but on average you guys are together more than not in other realities. There's probably a reason for that."

Jack looked at him oddly. Merlin had told him he was the 'convergence'. Jack wasn't really certain what that meant for him and Carter but it sure felt like the weight of the universe was on his shoulders. What a cosmic joke to be in love with the one woman he couldn't have.

"Oh, hey Sam!" Daniel shouted and frantically waved Carter over.

Sam grinned at them both and sat on the open side of Daniel, not trusting herself to sit close to Jack at the moment. She also figured it would be easier to control Daniel if both of them could pinch him at the same time. "Hey Daniel, Colonel."

"We're off the clock Carter." Jack grumped at her while Daniel chuckled.

"Technically I'm not. I have gate calculations to run tonight if we want to get people home tomorrow."

"Carter, did you break the gate again?" Jack teased her.

"Standard maintenance." She said with a shrug. "Daniel. Stop pumping Jack about our trip to England."

"How did you know I-"

Sam gave him a penetrating look. "The situation is handled. The file is redacted. Quit asking." She told him firmly.

"Yes ma'am." Daniel said meekly.

"Buy you a drink Carter?" Jack asked affably, grinning that Daniel was just as terrified of her as he was.

"Just a diet Coke. I have to be back to the base in half an hour."

Jack waived over the waitress to get Sam a drink and Sam asked Daniel about his trip to P47-454 while everyone else went to England. She knew if she distracted him with his own work, he'd stop focusing on the details of theirs, and Sam was definitely not ready to discuss that situation with anyone yet, not even Jack. It had been an emotional roller coaster and she had come to some hard conclusions about how and why things went from stress relief and scratching an itch to having inappropriate feelings for the man on the other side of her best friend.

Daniel sat between them mystified. The current running between them was so tactile that it made him feel like a third wheel. Something had happened on that trip and neither seemed willing to discuss it. They were both discreet, so whatever it was, they worked out how to keep their private life private.


End file.
